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What are your criterias for voting?

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amicus70

amicus70

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As a challengehost it's very interesting to see the votes for the submitted pictures during the votingphase. There are some pictures with only negative or positive votes; but there are a lot of pictures which get good and bad votes. And frankly, I don't agree with all the votes.

One conclusion is, that every member in this forum have a very own opinion about good pictures. If 1000 people believe that Helmut Newtons pictures are a great part of the art, that doesn't mean you have to agree with them.

And that's the reason I don't give bad votes in any of the challenges. Only when I think the pictures doesn't fit the rules, half a star is good enough. If it fit the rules but I don't like it, I don't give one star. I think it's my way to honor their work (even if I don't like it). Good pictures are getting high grades. That's it.

What is in your mind during the voting? I would like to know it and perhaps I have to reconsider my thoughts...
 
amicus70 said:
As a challengehost it's very interesting to see the votes for the submitted pictures during the votingphase. There are some pictures with only negative or positive votes; but there are a lot of pictures which get good and bad votes. And frankly, I don't agree with all the votes.

One conclusion is, that every member in this forum have a very own opinion about good pictures. If 1000 people believe that Helmut Newtons pictures are a great part of the art, that doesn't mean you have to agree with them.

And that's the reason I don't give bad votes in any of the challenges. Only when I think the pictures doesn't fit the rules, half a star is good enough. If it fit the rules but I don't like it, I don't give one star. I think it's my way to honor their work (even if I don't like it). Good pictures are getting high grades. That's it.

What is in your mind during the voting? I would like to know it and perhaps I have to reconsider my thoughts...
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Doesn't even vaguely meet the rules = .5

Meets the rules, but might as well have left the lens cap on = .5

Anything else, gets at least a "1"

Taste is an extremely legitimate approach. But there are objective criteria. IQ and composition are both objective. Meet the rules, have good composition, you get a minimum of five stars.

This is a one to ten scale. If you meet the rules, then for me to mark you with one star, the image has got to be really bad

Contrawise, I rarely give out ten stars. Ten stars would mean that the image couldn't be better. Now and then, someone captures a scene and I look at the image, and can't imagine improving on it.

That's the way I vote.

Dave
--
"Everyone who has ever lived, has lived in Modern Times"
 
I go thru all photo's once, and give 4+ to my favorites, 3+ to those that are better than average. 2 for those that are not that good and I skip voting on the ones that are poor photos. Once done, I look at my votes and usually increase the top 10 scores to have the best stand out at the top.
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Barb
 
barb_s said:
I go thru all photo's once, and give 4+ to my favorites, 3+ to those that are better than average. 2 for those that are not that good and I skip voting on the ones that are poor photos. Once done, I look at my votes and usually increase the top 10 scores to have the best stand out at the top.
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Barb
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Similar approach - go through the lot on slideshow giving max 3.5. Then sequence using "my votes" filter and tweak the 3.5s, elevating some to higher scores.

I've come to hate challenges with over 100 entries as maintaining voting consistency becomes difficult - but hey, it's hardly life or death!
 
I vote on all the entries and, I think that is the only fair way to vote.

I'm not criticizing the folks who only vote on the ones they feel are the best. And, I sympathize with those wanting to vote in large challenges. But, let me offer this alternative. What if I were to go through the entries and only vote on the bad ones? Say, just those I thought didn't meet the challenge criteria and/or those that were poor of very poor image quality, composition or exposure. To me, that's just as legitimate as voting for only the best entries. And, I likely wouldn't be shooting myself in the foot if I had entered the challenge.

--
AEH
http://aehass.zenfolio.com/
Question: What do you do all week?
Answer: Mon to Fri. Nothing, Sat & Sun I rest!
 
I typically vote for all of them when I vote at all. Having said that, I tend not to vote where there are much over 100 entries.

I give a two for what I consider average. Reserve 0.5 for not meeting the criteria (i.e., violating a rule). I'll only give a 5 to an outstanding photo, and often do not give 5s at all. Will give a very limited number of 3+, 4 or 4+. I vote as I go, but will go back and modify a couple at the top to make sure my top choices are in the right order.

I don't understand how some high-rated entries receive 0.5s. It appears that it could be a competitor undercutting the competition - although hopefully that's not the case.

Alan
--
http://arclark.smugmug.com/
 
It's hard to give a strict explanation as to how I vote but generally speaking I hang around the 2.5 star mark for a photo that is perfectly adequately taken and meets the criteria of the challenge but is not terribly good/great/interesting to me.

If I like it it gets a higher score 3-4.
If I like it a lot it might get 5 stars if it is also very well taken.

I try not to confuse pictures I like a lot with pictures that are well taken. If it's an image I like a lot for example but actually has technical difficulties with it, blown highlights or so then it can't get a perfect score but I can still push the score up to 4-4.5.

If a photo doesn't match the challenge criteria it automatically gets a lower score.

Generally I go by a rule that if it doesn't match the criteria then it can only go as high as 2.0 for still being a fine photo. If it's a particularly good or itnersting photo despite not matching the challenge I might push it to 2.5... but only if it's very very good or i like it an awful lot... (It's like a five star rating for irrelevance in a way)

If it doesn't suit the challenge and is poorly taken I will mark it as a 1-1.5 star and if it doesn't match even slightly and/or is very very badly taken it gets a 0.5 star(rarely)

A five star photo for me has to be technically perfect(imo), visually interesting(imo), exemplify the subject matter(imo) and stand out in my mind as a great image in general. Not just local to the challenge but compared to any photo I have ever seen in my life. Otherwise it's a 4.5 at best which is no bad score.

I do vote on all entries in a challenge when I vote.
 
every image starts with a 2.5 vote.

Objective (somewhat)
  • .5 or -1 for out of focus
  • .5 to -1 for poor lighting
  • .5 to -1 for over sharpening (sharpening halos)
+ .5 or 1 for above average composition

+ .5 or 1 for above average lighting (dynamic range, tonal gradation, no outrageous blown highlights)
+ .5 or 1 for unique appealing subject(s)

Subjective.....would I like it hanging on my wall +1 to + 2
 
Ed at Ridersite said:
What if I were to go through the entries and only vote on the bad ones? Say, just those I thought didn't meet the challenge criteria and/or those that were poor of very poor image quality, composition or exposure. To me, that's just as legitimate as voting for only the best entries. And, I likely wouldn't be shooting myself in the foot if I had entered the challenge.
Click to expand...
What happens then is bad photographs finish near the middle because they accumulate more votes than decent photos that no one bothered to vote for.

I think not being able to vote in a challenge you've entered is a good idea.
 
amicus70 said:
And that's the reason I don't give bad votes in any of the challenges. Only when I think the pictures doesn't fit the rules, half a star is good enough. If it fit the rules but I don't like it, I don't give one star. I think it's my way to honor their work (even if I don't like it). Good pictures are getting high grades. That's it.
Click to expand...
I used to do the 1/2 star thing on pictures that don't fit the rules, but someone mentioned on another thread that that's really the host's job; it shouldn't reach the voting stage if the host feels it doesn't meet the rules of the challenge. I tend to vote on very few images, mostly just giving 5 stars to those images I'd like to see win. Occasionally I'll see an image I like that just isn't quite up to some of the others, and I'll give it a 4 or 4 1/2. I think it's been a long time since I've rated any picture below a 4.

As to my criteria, I like people-oriented pictures. I like pictures that look natural (no HDR, unnaturally saturated or isolated colors, or extremely wide or long focal lengths). How well a picture fits the theme is far more important to me than image quality or even composition. I'm also swayed by titles--a good title can elevate a picture's rating while no title, or a hokey title, will sometimes cause me to pass on it. For example, in the recently-completed "Perfect" challenge, there was a portrait of a young boy. A nice picture, but, being a close-up with no context or story to tell, probably not terribly compelling if you don't know the family. However, the title indicated this was the photographer's grandson; now how can someone's grandson not be perfect?
 
I'm hardly considering my entries to the Street Photography challenge as works of art, but when ploughing through the voting this morning there are some real shockers.

Street photography, through a car window, with a blurred out windscreen wiper blade - please! - 0.5

Vague composition - 0.5

Cropped off feet, or even half a body sliced down the middle - 0.5

Basic composition and pp, cloning where required to get rid of the occasional stray limb - 2.0+ as a starter

Excellent lighting, tones and sympathetic conversion to b&w (if applicable), with an engaging subject - 4.0+

I think a fair few entries were taken on vacation after a large dinner and cocktails.
--
http://www.philpage.zenfolio.com
 
I used to start voting from 2s to 5s, since in between there are 7 grades to determine which one is the best and worst photo. 2s is the starting point to encourage the photographer to work harder next time, while 5s is the best work (imo). But what I seen in the current voting system, tactic voters used the 0.5s to declare death of a good photo in the challenge, in order to push their photos to the front place. So I suggest the host should eliminate all 0.5s votes when the voting end, or if any one vote with 0.5s to 1s should state out their opinion.
 
For me, I start out at average (3) and go up or down from there. If the photo is poorly composed or exposed, it will go down. I think most of the voters are either very harsh and at least some are trying to rig the results.

If it has exceptional light, color or composition, it will go up. 5's are pretty rare, but I will give a few in each challenge. I almost never give a .5 or 1. .5 is only when the photo clearly doesn't meet the rules of the challenge. A 1 has to be a poorly exposed photo that has no care in composition.

I don't vote in challenges I have entered and I do try to vote for every entry when I do vote.

I'm starting to wonder if participation is worthwhile. I've had a lot of entries that get at least 1 vote in every slot from .5 to 5.0. That type of feedback is not worthwhile.

--
Shawn
 
WOW ! images get high marks. Boring snapshots get low marks.

WOW images that nail the theme get the highest. I expect a certain amount of technical proficiency as a given and not worth a higher score just because it's in focus. Out of focus boring snapshots that are poorly composed and barely on theme score the very lowest.

It's not brain surgery. :)
--
Arrrrrrh !

Bart.
 
Doesn't meet the rules = 0.5
Meets the rules, but is terribly out of focus or has other major flaws = 0.5 - 1
Meets the rules, but composition, etc. are bad, a typical snapshot = 1 - 1.5

Anything that meets the rules, is technically good and has some message gets at least 1.5
 
I think that it is the challengehost's responsibility to govern that all entries qualified should meet the rule. We, as voters, just vote for the photo's quality, exposure and composition. It seen that we are rigging the challenge result if we have the right to give 0.5s for photos we think not qualify for the challenge.
 
Terence S K LAI said:
I think that it is the challengehost's responsibility to govern that all entries qualified should meet the rule. We, as voters, just vote for the photo's quality, exposure and composition.
Click to expand...
I agree, but there can be a difference between just meeting the rule enough not to get disqualified and entering an image that really nails the criteria. Just as voters will have different standards/preferences for compositional style and other image quality parameters, we will have different interpretations of how well a particular image fits the theme of the challenge, making that a valid criterion for voting.
 
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